Pulaski by Threes

The 2017 Pulaski Town Council Retreat, by name, brought to mind images of relaxation and frivolity. It was precisely the opposite. For six hours, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., they went at it – each of them looking at why and how they intended to go about making Pulaski a better place than when they came to office.

They spoke from the heart, with unambiguous sincerity. In many governments, political representatives are of a baser character than their constituents. Pulaski Town Council cannot be faulted on those grounds. Each councilman is honest and intends to do well by the town.

Given that the retreat was an impressive example of people doing their best, why isn’t the town doing better? It struck me that we need to be more like a squirrel. As I look out the window I see a squirrel jumping from limb to limb. Many of these leaps appear impossible. The path is never certain. But the result is that the squirrel almost playfully gets exactly where it intends.

We are a small town with only 45 more people than we had in the 1940 census. We are small enough to have a squirrel-like organizational structure.

Contemplate “Pulaski by Threes.” Three times a year, Pulaski’s town council and town manager meet in an open town hall with a free back and forth with citizens. Meetings 120 days apart give a sufficiently long interval between meetings to make progress and evaluate accomplishments. Working groups of citizens and government going topic by topic, limb to limb as we navigate our little forest… recruiting, growing, beautifying, meeting objectives. This is designed for us to pull together and bring the economic development we so desperately need.